Wake up and smell the coffee

The Zambia Society Trust held a successful coffee morning at Wesley Chapel in Harrogate on Saturday 13 December 2014, raising nearly £600 for a variety of projects in Zambia.

It was a cold, crisp December morning and an early start as a team of family and friends gathered to prepare for our coffee ‘morning’ in aid of the Zambia Society Trust. This was our first such event at the chapel, and in spite of our research over the last few months, research involving many cups of coffee and slices of home-made cake, we really didn’t know what to expect. Our anxieties ranged from concerns that we would have no customers, to panic that we would have too many to be able to cope!

We opened on time at 10am, and at 10am had our first customers – regulars at chapel coffee mornings who quickly made a bee-line for their favourite tables. We were encouraged when they waxed lyrical about the variety and number of cakes we had on offer, and were positively elated when they reported back that they were the best they had ever tasted! These comments recurred through the day and we were so grateful to all our talented bakers who gave so freely of their time and their ingredients

Lunch time approached, and that is where our real worries lay. We had no idea of numbers so catered with soup and sandwiches for 100 people, and with a combination of beginners’ luck and sheer skill (!), were left with just 6 sandwiches at the end of the day!

As suggested by the chapel’s administrator, we had a book stall in the chapel grounds, further alerting the passing Harrogate public to the fact that the chapel was open for business. Your treasurer and his brother stood outside stoically for 5 hours in sub-zero temperatures, raising a magnificent £87.00 from the sale of books, all of which were priced at 50p, leading to some fantastic bargains.

Our day at the chapel ended just before 4pm, so quite a long ‘morning’. It was great fun and we raised a fabulous £558 for the Trust; an amount which exceeded our expectations. We very much hope to be able to book the chapel for a December Saturday in 2015 and if we can do so, aim to beat our 2014 total.